Sour Candy | T. Drake ✔

[50] Sunshine

It took time but Tim eventually adjusted around Mona. The girl was such a bright ray of sunshine that it was hard not to be grateful for her presence.

Mona had adjusted rather well too with her new family, gradually learning English so that she could communicate with others. Back at the League, her life had been very different; revolving only around training sessions and an ever-persistent threat of being attacked.

But with the Waynes, she got the chance to feel much more free and happy than she had ever been before. From the somber kid they had first met, Mona had turned out to be a lot more cheerful.

She often went to Dora's Coffee Haunt where literally everyone doted on her. And back at the manor, she had taken the youngest child privileges from Damian which at times made him slightly sour.

But even he couldn't bring himself to stay angry at Mona for long so despite the fact that he felt all his attention was being snatched away, he didn't create much of a ruckus about it.

In short, Mona had formed a great connection with all of them. She loved training with Damian as both had a similar fighting style. Jason and Richard had a habit of bringing sweets for her and taking her out for rides through the city. Cassandra, Steph and Barbara too adored the child.

But she was closest to Dora who she envisioned as an angel. And Alex, who was her favorite uncle, a fact that made both Richard and Jason slightly jealous.

Her bond with Tim had improved as well and there were times when the two would be baking in the kitchen together, supervised by Cassandra and Steph.

Apparently, Mona had inherited Tim's likeness of sweet things as well, especially batter so it wasn't unusual for their cakes to turn out much smaller as compared to the required size since the girl would scoop out a lot of batter for herself before they put it in the oven.

And no one had the heart to refuse her from taking the batter as she would look at them with her wide blue eyes and the most adorable expression on her face which would make them relent.

That morning, Dora had told Tim to bring Mona along with him to the shop so he went to her room to wake her up.

He opened the door and saw the curtains were drawn shut and the lights were switched off as well, the soft sound of her peaceful breathing indicating that she was fast asleep. Tim opened the curtains, allowing the sunlight to pour into the room, and watched as Mona buried herself deeper among the blankets to escape the light.

"Mona, it's time for breakfast," he shook her gently.

"Not too soon..." She mumbled, pulling the blanket on top of her head.

"Wake up kiddo or I won't take you to Dora's shop. Then you won't get those cookies she promised to make for you." He removed the blanket from her head, hand gently patting her cheek, "come on, open your eyes."

Tim waking her up in the mornings was a rare scenario as the others kept turns so he only got to wake her up on weekends when he would not be at Wayne Tech. So when he shook her again and she realized it was him, she opened her eyes immediately, a bright smile dancing on her face.

Her eyes lit up as she saw him and she jumped out of the blankets, her arms wrapping around him tightly, "Baba!"

A faint smile flickered on Tim's face as he scooped her up, walking off towards the bathroom, "good morning, sweetheart."

"Very very good morning," she hugged him tighter and his smile widened.

"Easy, Mona, let me breathe," he chuckled.

"Oops," she loosened her grip but hadn't let go of him.

Unlike him, Mona was very eager to show her likeness to a person and her most preferred gesture was hugs. So whoever went to wake her up in the morning would get hugs from her and she wouldn't let go so they would have to carry her to the bathroom as well.